A bizarre and terrifying experience; I messed up the dungeon world.

周浪掏出那本排班表。红圈标注的日期分别是3月17日、5月8日、9月22日和12月1日。

"3-1-7-5".

wrong.

"0-3-1-7".

Still not right.

Zhao Qiang rubbed his hands together and said, "Brother Lang, how about we just smash it?"

"It can't be broken open; these safes are explosion-proof." Zhou Lang looked at the schedule again and noticed small numbers next to the red circles—not dates, but bed numbers: 3, 17, 58, and 92.

「3-1-7-5-8-9-2……不对，四位数。」

他把这些数字重新排列组合：3、17、58、92。取首位数？3、1、5、9。

Enter 3159.

Click. The safe opened.

Inside was an old brass key with a label attached that read "Dean".

"Got it, let's go."

The group moved towards the top floor. When they reached the fourth floor, Zhou Lang stopped.

Three people were standing at the top of the stairs.

The Second Union.

The leader was a short, stocky man with a bald head and a centipede-like scar on his neck. Behind him were two people, a man and a woman, whose eyes were not friendly.

"Hey, isn't this Brother Lang?" The bald man grinned. "Found the key? Thanks a lot. Why don't you hand it over to us and save everyone some trouble?"

Zhao Qiang was furious: "You—"

Zhou Lang reached out to stop Zhao Qiang.

"Get out of the way," he said.

The bald man shook his head: "Brother Lang, why bother? In this competition, whoever wins doesn't matter. Just give us the keys, and I promise I won't make things difficult for you in the later matches."

I'll count to three.

"Don't do that—"

"one."

The bald man's smile froze for a moment.

"two."

Zhou Lang pulled a chainsaw out of his pocket.

The bald man took a step back. The two men behind him exchanged a glance, clearly hesitant.

"three."

The sound of the chainsaw echoing in the stairwell was extremely jarring. The bald man cursed and led his men to the side.

Zhou Lang put away the chainsaw and led his team up to the fourth floor.

"Are you really good at driving?" Zhao Qiang asked in a low voice.

"you guess."

The dean's office was at the end of the corridor. He inserted the brass key and turned it, and the door opened.

The office was a mess, with files scattered all over the floor. An old computer sat on the desk, its screen still lit. Zhou Lang walked over and saw a line of text on the screen: [Morgue entrance: Third wall behind the morgue on the basement level. Password: The director's time of death.]

"The dean's time of death..." Han Yingying flipped through the documents on the table, "Here's a death certificate!"

死亡时间：2019年11月3日，凌晨2点47分。

"0-2-4-7, let's go!"

As the six people rushed to the basement, they encountered all six members of the Second Guild.

Instead of blocking the road, they followed behind, maintaining a distance of about twenty meters. This method of following was clearly intended to wait for Zhou Lang and his group to clear the way, so they could reap the benefits without lifting a finger.

Zhou Lang ignored them and continued at his pace. Upon arriving at the morgue, Zhao Qiang and Liu Dayong opened the mortuary cabinet to confirm its safety, while Zhou Lang headed straight for the third wall.

There's a hidden door in the wall, secured with a combination lock. Enter 0247, and the hidden door pops open, revealing a downward passage.

Just then, footsteps sounded behind them.

The members of the Second Union rushed over.

They weren't there to steal our way; they were heading straight for Han Yingying.

The bald man grabbed Han Yingying's arm and pulled her backward. Two other people held Liu Dayong back, while three others rushed towards the entrance of the passage.

"Don't move!" the bald man shouted, a dagger appearing in his hand, held against Han Yingying's neck.

Everyone stopped.

Zhou Lang turned around.

"Brother Lang," the bald man laughed, "I told you, why bother?"

Han Yingying didn't struggle, but she was looking in Zhou Lang's direction.

At this critical juncture, Chen Lei made his move.

No one noticed his position—he had been standing in the shadow of the mortuary, closest to the bald man. He suddenly lunged forward, shoving the bald man's knife-wielding hand aside with his body. The dagger flew out, and Han Yingying seized the opportunity to break free.

But the bald man reacted quickly. He swung a punch at Chen Lei's temple, causing Chen Lei to stagger back a couple of steps but not fall. A female player behind the bald man pulled something out from behind her back—

It's a dungeon item.

A black bone needle.

Zhou Lang recognized the thing. It was a drop from a B-rank dungeon called "Soul-Eating Needle," which would drain a player's health within ten seconds after being inserted into their body.

"Chen Lei, get down!"

Chen Lei did not lie down.

Because that bone needle wasn't aimed at him.

The direction the female player threw the bone needle was towards Han Yingying.

Chen Lei stood in front of Han Yingying.

The bone needle pierced his back.

His body swayed slightly.

"Brother Lei!" Zhao Qiang called out.

Chen Lei turned his head and said something to Han Yingying. His voice was very soft, but everyone heard it.

"My wife... is waiting for me outside. Please take care of her for me."

Then he collapsed.

A cold, impersonal system message popped up: [Player Chen Lei, dead.]

The entire morgue was silent for three seconds.

Three seconds later, Zhou Lang walked towards the bald man.

The bald man took a step back, then pulled out a dagger. "Brother Lang...this is a competition, it's all about skill—"

Zhou Lang kicked him in the wrist, and the dagger clattered to the ground. Then, a second kick landed squarely on the bald man's knee. The bald man screamed and knelt down.

The other five members of the Second Union tried to rush forward, but Liu Dayong and Song Yutong had already blocked their way. Zhao Qiang pulled out a chainsaw from somewhere—the one Zhou Lang had given him—and after practicing for so long, this was the first time he was holding it properly.

"Let anyone try to move it," Zhao Qiang said.

His voice trembled, but he held the chainsaw steadily.

The people from the Second Union didn't move.

Zhou Lang squatted down in front of the bald man and looked at him.

The bald man felt a chill run down his spine under that gaze: "Don't...don't kill me, killing someone in the dungeon will be punished by the system—"

"I know."

Zhou Lang stood up and didn't touch him again.

"Let's go," he said to the group.

The five people entered the passage. The members of the Second Union did not chase after them.

At the end of the corridor was the morgue, piled high with medical records. Song Yutong found the gasoline can, and Liu Dayong lit it.

The flames engulfed all the files.

System notification: [Mission complete. Team 1 wins. Team 2 fails.]

The scene switched back to the waiting hall of the competition.

Five people stood in the white hall, with one seat empty in the middle. No one spoke.

Han Yingying's eyes reddened, but she didn't shed a tear. She remembered Chen Lei's last words very well.

Zhou Lang walked to a corner and sat down, taking out the duty roster from his inventory and turning to the last page. There were pencil marks Chen Lei had made earlier—his thought process for analyzing the code was written in the margins.

The handwriting is neat and tidy, with each stroke carefully written.

Zhou Lang carefully put away the work schedule.

"We can't afford to lose any of the remaining matches," he said.

Their opponent in the second round is the Seventh Guild.

The intelligence Han Yingying gathered before the match indicated that the Seventh Guild and the Second Guild had private dealings. Sure enough, the opposing side adopted an extremely aggressive strategy at the start—ignoring the mission and heading straight for Zhou Lang and his group.